Parents, teach your children how to behave around pets

Everyone needs to know I had a Padi moment on my morning walk back home.

My dog, a Saluki mix, and I were crossing over Bowlees Creek on the bridge, walking North on Ninth Street East from Whitfield at 6:55 a.m.

We were about halfway across and my dog jerked his head around and did a double take. I turned my head and there was a bike wheel and child, about 13 years old, a boy of good size, on his bicycle. I did not hear him, just the clang of us walking on the metal bridge.

No warning, no shout-out. He said simply said nothing. Just plowing his way through this very narrow crossover just enough for my dog and I to cross over. This child scared the daylights out of us!

I said to him, "This is a really bad choice you made to come through here. You should have been in the street. There are no cars going north right now at this moment!

He had plenty of opportunity to cross on the street safely; no cars were coming. He just kept going, not apologizing, just bullying his way by. Total disrespect. It was a bully move, creating pain for everyone around him.

There are many things this child did wrong. Many problems that need to be addressed. No common courtesy from this child.

No knowledge of bike law etc. But his actions could have ended our lives as we know it.

Just the thought of Padi! How a child with out-of-control actions changed lives.

That is what would have happened to my dog, me and my husband's life, if this child would have been bitten! A life-changing event. I was able to avoid this by my quick grab of my dog! We must teach our children much better!

Margaret Dutton

Sarasota

This story was originally published October 2, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Parents, teach your children how to behave around pets ."